There are about 7 type of the lion in the world .

There are between 10.000.00 and 15,000,00


There were 7 subspecies of the lion.
1. The Angola
2. The Masai
3. The Senegalese
4. The South African
5. The Asian
6. The Cape
7. The Barbary

Of these only 5 lion sub species exist in the wild. The Cape Lion extinct by 1860. The Barbary lion was believed extinct in 1920. Since then, however, found on Barbary Lions in captivity. There are about 140 in the world.













                           Angola Lion                                                                         Masai Lion



                       
                      Senegalese Lion                                                                     South African lion
















                                  Asian Lion                                                                     Cape Lion

Dispersion of cats in the world
A recent study by Warren Johnson and Stephen O'Brien from the analysis of mitochondrial DNA of the present species, cats have conducted two waves of migration: there are nine million years, the cats of Asia spread in Africa and America in favor of lower sea levels, then there is a year to four million American cats returned to the old continent, including lynx and guépards1.

Cats or cats (Felidae) are a family of order Carnivora, the subclass of eutherian in the class of mammals. The cat family includes two subfamilies according to ITIS and three according to NCBI [irrelevant].

Among their characteristics are their round head to head shortened, their jaw with about thirty teeth, and retractile claws, except the cheetah, the cat and the raccoon flat-headed cat. The cats are digitigrade, that is to say they walk by pressing their fingers (the foot does not arise on the ground).

Currently, Proailurus, which lived 40 million years ago in the Oligocene period, is considered the oldest common ancestor of the cat family. Considering Pseudaelurus as the last common ancestor of modern cats.

The lion and proper names
The lion is the origin of surnames Leon and Lionel, a diminutif In Hebrew, we find the names Arie ('aryeh, in the name zoologie ) and Ariel, "lion of God" in  and Lavi

In Arabic, nearly three hundred names designate the lion. A partial consultation of the great Arabic-French dictionary of Kazimirski confirms this number. They include Assad ('asad, the name zoologique ), Abbas (Abbas' severe frown ") and Hamza Turkish Aslan knows the forms (zoological name) and Arslan, the latter being also the Mongolian form. This name was given in Russian Rouslan Persian shir is known by the general Shirkuh ("mountain lion"), uncle of Saladin, the Shir-Dor Madrasah (or Cher-Dor) ("Lions' Gate") and in Samarkand, with a broadening of the meaning hindî tiger, Shere Khan by the tiger's jungle Book.

The lion is the image of a strong animal and courageux is explained by the fact that until recently, men of war were called by name. Among the more recent, the Afghan warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud was called by his followers the "Lion of Panjshir", Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie called himself the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." Conversely, for Richard I of England it is neither strength nor courage, but his mood swings that earned him, in France, the nickname "Lion Heart", in reference to the unpredictability of the animal.

The qualifier is now glowing lion, the Cameroonian football player of the team Indomitable Lions, Roger Milla was called "the old lion" by his countrymen because he was the oldest outfield player and the oldest scorer of world Cup football.

Literature and Film
The Roman de Renart and Yvain, the Knight of the Lion are great works of the Middle Ages depicting lion. The ancient literary work has most influenced the western Middle Ages remains the Physiologus, written in ancient Greek bestiary century in Alexandria and then translated into Latin in the fourth century. This ancient base gave the lion's image of the king of animals and its assimilation to Christ, and is also the Physiologus that come from the characteristics attributed to the Middle Âge lion: he stands high in the mountains, his eyes are open even if it reanimates and dort cubs born dead after three days. These themes are well illustrated in the illuminations of bestiaries médiévaux.

Jean de La Fontaine, Aesop mimicking in many of his fables, the lion is one of the main characters (including The Lion and the Rat where the cat, impetuous, is opposed to rodent, small, weak but patient). Joseph Kessel, in 1958, made a novel: The Lion, the story of the daughter of a superintendent who is natural in Africa befriended King, a lion reserve and who are asked in marriage by a Maasai warrior, the latter, to win his heart, wants to show his worth by killing a lion who happens to be King. C. S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia saga uses the symbol of the lion, "king of beasts", through Aslan living god fighting evil, sacrificing himself for the salvation of his people and rising shortly after. In the Harry Potter heptalogie J. K. Rowling, Gryffindor, one of the houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, is represented by a lion. The lion symbolizes courage, boldness, strength and generosity, character traits that are supposed to have the students belonging to this maison

In the cinema, among others, the successful animated film from Walt Disney Pictures The Lion King. The lion is a recurring character in many films, Tarzan of the Wizard of Oz, and television series with such Daktari The lion is also described as a threat to humans such as in The Man-eaters of Tsavo by John Henry Patterson in 1907 and which was shot several movies such as Bwana Devil in 1952 and The Shadow in 1996 and Prey .

A heraldic device

Coat of arms of Norway.Related articles: Lion (heraldry) and Armorial lion.
The fascination of men for that animal is visible in the multiplicity of crests on which it is shown to the extent that proverb said, "who has no arms, wearing a lion, Thus, we find, among others, on the crests of Écosse, the Norvège the Belgique or cities like Lyon. The lion is represented most often rampant, that is to say, standing on its hind legs, but many other forms exist: passant langued, picked, morné, etc.. The lion in heraldry is called a lion with the head in profile and leopard with the head in front, and the lions of the English coat of arms are leopards. Based on a symbolic figure of the lion has been created, for example, a silver lion on a field vert symbolize tempérance and according to Marcel Brion, various heraldic lions are from distant préhistoriques beliefs. Although it is considered the "king of beasts", the lion is no authority on birds. It is this antagonism between the eagle, lord of heaven and symbol of imperial power, and the lion will motivate the choice to include the animal on the coat of arms. He became known to Europeans, from the times when it spread around the Mediterranean.
The lion is the national symbol of India, and appear on such arms as lions of the Indian emperor Ashoka.


Commercial use

The figure of the lion is used by many brands, not only for the symbol considered positive, but also recovery. For example, the car maker Peugeot uses the arms as a symbol of Sochaux since 1847. The heraldic lion is filed as a logo since 1858. Several banks also use the positive symbolic linked to the lion. The banking group ING also uses a logo that contains a lion, this time, orange.

Asian representations


Lions guarding the Forbidden City.The lion is now in Asia than in the Indian peninsula, it is nevertheless very present in the statuary of all Asian countries. Lions, represented with a curly mane, stand guard in front of the pagodas, like Kuthodaw bouddhistes or in temples. Originally from Inde, the lion dance is a traditional dance performed at Chinese New Year to scare away demons and bring chance.

Representations in the West

Lion riddled with arrowsBas-relief in the north palace of Nineveh.The lion is often represented in the figurative arts. The lion is the image of royalty and the sun and grows throughout the Middle East. In Babylon, for example, the Processional Way is decorated with bas-relief ceramic tile lion shaped  time of Nebuchadnezzar. Assyrian art, which influenced the art of the steppes and the art of many tribes conquered by the nomadic warriors, also depicts many hunts lions, very realistic. This type of representation was intended to glorify the king, Beastmaster, and also represent the defeat of the enemy. The theme of the Wild, often a cat or a bear, jumping on its prey is very common. Assyrian art has brought a taste for realism and naturalism to his tribes, which is then transmitted throughout Eurasia, including the Germanic peoples and asiatiques.

Among the Greeks and Romans, the lion guardian figure, so the doors of lionesses protecting the palace of Agamemnon against the enemies and démons. In Greek art, the motive hunting scenes of the Nemean lion, whose skin is the attribute of Hercules is very present. Among the Romans, it is also represented as an animal circus, fighting against the gladiateurs. In Christian art, the lion sometimes accompanies St. Jerome, or strength, it is the symbol of Mark the Evangelist, of royalty. King of beasts in the medieval bestiary, it is very present in monumental art.

From the Renaissance, representations of animals are becoming more and more anatomically accurate: the artists perform to the representation of real subjects detained in zoos. Henri Rousseau's famous for his paintings of the jungle, and especially The gypsy asleep when a lion approaches a solitary bohemian sleeping in the desert. In the nineteenth century, many zoological illustrations made by naturalists show specifically the lion

Iconography 
Main article: Lion in the art.

First performances of lion in the Paleolithic 
Hunters Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian) already accounted for the lion there are over 30,000 years. The cave lion can be easily identified because of the presence of a topknot to tail tip into the depiction of paléolithique. The lion represented the side facing the observer and not in the profile of African prehistoric art because of legends that ascribe magical powers associated with its regard. Man lion, mammoth ivory carving nearly 30 centimeters high, representing the body of a man's head surmounted by a cave lion, is among the works of art the most impressive this time, but also among the oldest in the history of mankind. Perhaps she played a divinite

Lion in the mythologies and religions
Sphinx of Giza.In many ancient cultures, the lion was playing an important symbolic role. In Egypt, the pharaohs were represented by sphinxes, lions head humaine. The most famous of these representations is the Great Sphinx of Giza. Sekhmet was worshiped as a goddess in human body and lion's head, sent by Ra against the Egyptians who were plotting against lui. Minor deities, such as engineering Nebneryou hosting the realm of the dead or morts Mihos, the son of Bastet headed lion existed, as many gods hybrid with a body part of the lion: Pachet, Aker, or Tefnut Dédoun by exemple.


In Greek mythology, the lions appear in various positions: the Nemean lion, represented as a man-eating beast in the impenetrable skin, was killed by Heracles during his twelve travaux. In the story of Androcles, one of Aesop's fables, the hero, an escaped slave, removes a thorn from the paw of a lion, when later, as punishment for his escape, he was thrown by his master lion to be devoured, the animal recognized him and refused to kill the man.

In the Judeo-Christian religions, the lion is an animal polysemic, especially through portrayed positive images of St. Jerome and his lion, the Evangelists (Lion of St. Mark) and Daniel spared the lions, but a negative connotation it is associated with a passage from Peter referring to Satan who walks "like a lion searching for prey to dévorer. Thus, the lion comes up very often in Catholic churches because it represents the strength of the believer fighting sin, and objects: lion paw bracelets, carved episcopal see in the image of the lion, on the base of the candlesticks, église portals ... In Roman times, during the persecutions, Christians were thrown to the lions; this the negative connotations and was also at the origin of expressions like "being thrown to the lions.

2>Painting of a cave lion by Heinrich Harder
The cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea) is the lion of the Upper Pleistocene. He was present throughout Europe. The extinction of these animals associated with open areas of temperate or cold is probably linked to climate change (and possibly loss of prey on which they lived) rather than intensive hunting by human groups. Discovered in the nineteenth century, it has first been closer to the modern species of similar size, namely tigers and lions. In describing the type of skull Gailenreuth, Georg August Goldfuss felt it was distinct from modern taxa. It is now considered a separate subspecies, but with enough character to justify his one-sided attachment to the species Leo. This is the direct ancestor of the lion moderne. It is possible that the males did not have a mane, or they have had a very small and primitive. Indeed, the representations of a lion in Paleolithic art show no mane as bushy as that of the lions today. We do not know if they had any kind of scattered spots on their fur or if their color was uniform.

3>The lion in Eastern Siberia and Beringia (Panthera leo vereshchagini) existed only in the province of Yakutia in Russia, Alaska and the Yukon Territory in Canada. An analysis of the fossil skulls and mandibles shows that this lion is indeed a new subspecies, different from other prehistoric lions namely, the American lion by a larger and a cave lion size inférieure.

4>The American lion (Panthera leo atrox) was present from Alaska to Peru throughout the late Pleistocene. These lions were very similar to modern lions, but were much greater. According to some representations in the caves, the American lion would have owned a few scratches, but much smaller than the tiger. Assume they hunted animals then slower but more robust, such as bison, but their strength and weight allowed them to shoot down the prey to the ground. They also attacked Horses, deer and even young mammoths. Many lions were found in the remains of camps dated Paleolithic humans, this suggests that lions were hunted by men. In Idaho, the remains of American lion was spotted in the debris of a cave called "Jaguar Cave", they are dated to 10,300 years. Several other fossils show that these lions were hunted by early Amérindiens.

5>The lion of Europe (Panthera leo europaea) in ancient times extended as far south as western Europe in the Middle and Near East. It is often equated (wrongly) to Asian lion.

Subspecies modern

Asiatic lion at Bristol.
Twelve subspecies are traditionally recognized, the largest being the Atlas lion disappeared during the twentieth century. The major differences between its various subdivisions of the species were the location and size of the mane and body: most of these previously described forms are now considered invalid because not taking into account the natural variability between individuals. Also, some descriptions of subspecies were based on specimens held by zoos, whose origin was not always certaines. In 2004, only eight subspecies are reconnues, among seven African subspecies proposed, the Cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) is probably not valide.
However, recent genetic analysis conducted on different subspecies of lion led to reduce the number of subspecies in two: in 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) does not recognize and the Lion Africa (Panthera leo leo) and the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica)

The African lion (Panthera leo leo): formerly widespread throughout Africa, there is now only from the southern Sahara to northern South Africa;

The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) is very similar to the African lion. According to research biomolecular he parted there are 50 000-100 000 years of its African cousin. It has a mane and a fold lower in the middle of the belly. To this must be added a much larger hairs at the elbow. The Asiatic lion is generally smaller than the African. An adult male has a body mass between 160 and 190 kg, one female between 110 and 120 kg. It once extended throughout the Indian subcontinent. Group size is on average smaller than its African counterpart. The early twentieth century, the subspecies seemed destined to disappear: there was then more than twenty individuals. Gir Forest and its surroundings were then declared "protected" and in 1965 was created the National Park Gir Forest, the population could rise again up to 300 animals, which, however, are threatened by a land far too small ( 250 km ) and by a strong cross of related animals, which led to the loss of genetic diversity of these lions.

Phylogeny

Diagram of the skeleton of a cave lion
Phylogeny is the study of the emergence and formation of a species with fossils. The oldest fossil of a lion was discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania, according to dating, he would probably 3.5 Ma

Panthera leo is identified for the first time in Europe, on the Italian site of Isernia, the fossil of a primitive cave lion (Panthera leo fossilis) older than 700,000 years. A lower jaw of a lion of Olduvai Gorge in Kenya, older than 1.75 Ma, shows striking similarities with the primitive cave lion. These are considered the largest in Europe and lions hunted during interglacial Cromerian, there are over 500 000 years, near Wiesbaden in Hesse and near Heidelberg in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Some specimens were nearly as long as the greatest lions of Earth history, the American lion (Panthera leo atrox) of California reached a record length: up to 3.60 meters long with the tail (overall length of tail, about 2.40 meters).

Most discoveries of lions in Europe are cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) emerged during the glacial period Mindel, they represent an evolution of primitive cave lions. Although it is specifically related with any of the subspecies present, the DNA studies have confirmed that the cave lion was a lion authentique. Another subspecies lived, for its part, North East Asia, in Beringia (at the current Bering Strait), called Lion of eastern Siberia and Beringia (Panthera leo vereshchagini). In Central Europe, Asia and North America, the lions were, until the end of the Pleistocene, a common species of local wildlife, but disappeared at the end of the last glaciation.

The detention of lions
Some individuals or private companies are raising lions, their detention is subject to many countries with specific permissions. Often these animals are kept under conditions not allowing their well-being among others because of lack of espace In France, regular input actions were conducted by the administration although some associations are the little virulentes. India banned the possession of the same lion from 1998. Also many animals escape, resulting in battered often result in the slaughter of the animal.

In Africa, the couple George and Joy Adamson is best known for the high and tamed lioness Elsa, Elsa has been the source of several books and documentaries.


Taxonomy

The lion, like the leopard, tiger, jaguar and snow leopard or ounce, is part of the Panthera genus of the family Felidae.